Early polls inevitable, says BJP

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) Early polls are inevitable, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Friday, dismissing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion that the government would complete its five-year tenure.

"...The government will not last its full term and and mid-term elections seem to be inevitable," BJP leader Balbir Punj said Friday.

"Irrespective of what Dr. Manmohan Singh says, there is an atmosphere of instability around the government... That is why you have this speculation about mid-term elections," Punj told reporters.

"This government has lost its mandate to rule the people long back and now its numbers in Lok Sabha are also low. The country is passing through a phase of social and political instability," he said.

The BJP's comment comes a day after Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said at a party meeting that the Lok Sabha polls were likely around November.

However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday night said he was confident that the government would complete its term, which comes to an end next year around May.

Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi reiterated the prime minister's statement to reporters on his way back from Durban.

"Our government is very stable," Alvi told IANS, adding that elections would be held on time in 2014.

Asked about Mulayam Singh's comments, he said: "It may be his own opinion but it is our considered opinion that elections will be held at the right time."

The government has been in a tight spot after Trinamool Congress pulled out of the United Progressive Alliance and withdrew support to government last year. The trouble only increased when the DMK announced it withdrawal from the UPA over the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils.

The government is at present dependent on outside support of the Samajwadi party and the Bahujan Samaj Party for its survival.

The government has also dismissed the idea of formation of a Third Front. Congress leader Manish Tewari Thursday called the idea of Third Front an "enduring mirage" of Indian politics.